Cedar Point County Park is located within the town of East Hampton, where the peninsula overlooks Gardiners Bay to the north, and Sag Harbor Bay to the south. Its 630 acres rests on the Ronkonkoma terminal moraine and has a landscape characterized by glacial erratics. There is patchy vegetative cover, along the sandy peninsula, with some areas that have been filled with dredged materials. This barrier beach habitat is relatively rare outside of the south shore of Long Island; they aid in coastline protection from severe weather events, and they are home to rare species such as Seabeach Amaranth (Amaranthus pumilus). Closer to the mainland are mature hardwood forests, ephemeral pools, cedar pond bluffs, followed by eelgrass beds that run eastward towards the three-mile harbor. In the mainland of the park are wetland communities of Alewife and adjacent Scoy Pond.
The park is maintained for various recreational activities from hiking along trails, boating, licensed and in-season hunting for waterfowl, and surfcasting for bass and bluefish.
Cedar Island, as it was formerly known, is on historically Montaukett and Manhasset indigenous land. It was named for the cedar trees which were especially conspicuous compared to its otherwise barren landscape. In 1839, a 40 foot lighthouse was erected on the island and was historically an important navigational aid for the colonial whaling fleets of Sag Harbor. This, along with the bustling shipments of crops, fish, and timber harvested from the East End of Long Island made it the second most important town on Long Island at the time; the first being Brooklyn.
It wasn’t until the Great Hurricane of 1938 that 200 yards of terrain filled the gap between the mainland and Cedar Island, turning it into what we know today as the peninsula of Cedar Point. It was around this time that the land was owned and operated as a hunting club by American attorney and sportsman Phelan Beale, naming it the Grey Goose Gun Club of Cedar Point.
The land was acquired by Suffolk County in 1967, and formally designated as a Suffolk County Park. Today, the lodge that was built for the Grey Goose Gun Club is now the park foreman’s residence.
- Size: 630 acres
- Presence of rare and endangered species
- Invasive species present are concentrated to disturbed areas
- In particular, around maintenance buildings, campgrounds and along the entrance road.
EDRR for emerging invasive species found near Cedar Point or those found in similar ecosystems within LIISMA such as:
- Rock sea lavender (Limonium binervosum) – under management at Three Mile Harbor
- Japanese sedge (Carex kobomugi) – Previously found at Jones Beach state park and Silver Point County Park in Nassau County
- Perennial pepperweed (Lepidium latifolium) – under management at West Meadow Beach
Species found within the buffer of the ISPZ, require monitoring for early detection and rapid response:
- Rock sea lavender (Limonium binervosum)
- Japanese Angelica Tree (Aralia elata)
- Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum)
- Linden Arrow-wood (Viburnum dilatatum)
- Green Crab (Carcinus maenas)
- Chinese Pennisetum (Cenchrus alopecuroides)
- Pale Swallowwort (Cynanchum rossicum)
- Mile-a-minute (Persicaria perfoliata)
- Yellow-groove Bamboo (Phyllostachys aureosulcata)
Species recently found within the park that require monitoring for rapid response:
None currently
Invasive species that are established within the park, requiring containment and removal in highest quality areas:
- Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata)
- Tree of heaven(Ailanthus altissima)
- Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)
- Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii)
- Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus)
- Autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata)
- Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica)
- Bush honeysuckle spp. (Lonicera spp)
- Japanese Stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum)
- Princess tree (Paulownia tomentosa)
- Common reed (Phragmites australis)
- Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica)
- Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)
- Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius)
- Wisteria (Wisteria spp.)
Widespread invasive species found within the park that require greater research on their impact:
- LD Moth (Lymantria dispar)
- Princess Tree (Paulownia tomentosa)
- Striped Barnacle (Amphibalanus amphitrite)
- Dead Man’s Fingers (Codium fragile)
